The votes are counted and the winner has been announced for this year's One Book One Kootenay selection.
As each public library polling station reported, the results changed in this hard fought, three-way race. The fifth annual One Book One Kootenay (OBOK) was not selected until the last library was heard from. It was almost as suspenseful as this year's selection, "Confined Space" by Deryn Collier (Simon & Schuster, 2012).
"OBOK is a wonderful way to support local writers and the exposure throughout the region for Confined Space has been fantastic," Collier said when she heard her book was voted as the one people in the region should read. "I really hope the program continues."
OBOK is a regional book club, supported by the Kootenay Library Federation, the 19 member libraries in the Kootenay/Boundary and the Columbia Basin Trust. It has created an awareness of the depth and diversity of our literary culture. People are not only reading books by Kootenay authors; they are enjoying them and telling their friends about them.
Confined Space is a perfect example of a locally written mystery with universal appeal. The characters feel real, the plot is believable and you don't have to live in the Kootenays to picture Kootenay Landing.
Once you have read it you will want to hear what Collier has to say about her book. What inspired her? Where did she learn the technical details? How did a first time author, from Nelson, get a publisher to take her on?
These, and many other questions, will be answered at events hosted by libraries, across the region, in October. In Cranbrook, Deryn Collier will be at the Cranbrook Public Library on Thursday, October 24 at 7 p.m. To find out where and when else Deryn will present, visit the OBOK website at www.obok.ca.For those of you who haven't read it, Confined Space can be found at your public library.